15-06-2010 30 Seconds To Mars

Supports: Carpark North; Venue: Westfalenhalle, Dortmund (Germany)
By: Nina Mende

Sold out Westfalenhalle in Dortmund, two bands: Carpark North and 30 Seconds to Mars.

Actually I was there as guest – that’s why there are no pictures this time – but I still felt like I have to share this show with you.

The venue was very crowded as we came in, the audience was mixed: young and old, die hard fans called Echeleon and “newbies”. The first band of the evening was Carpark North. Carpark North is a Danish electronic rock band. The band was formed in Aarhus, Denmark on 28 July 1999 by Lau Højen (vocal, guitar), Søren Balsner (bass, synthesisers) and Morten Thorhauge (drums). The name “Carpark North” was created from the electro and rock genres: “Carpark” stands for car parks, edges, roughness, metal – the rock part, and “North” stands for northern lights, stars ethereal electronics. Their sound and light was amazing. The songs were very catchy and melodic, a little spacey as well. The audience loved it and so did we. I had never heard of this band before, but after today’s performance I decided to definitely keep an eye on them. Their show lasted for about half an hour, way ro short for such an awesome band.

Up next was 30 Seconds to Mars. 30 Seconds to Mars is an American rock band from Los Angeles, formed in 1998. Since 2007, the band has been composed of actor Jared Leto (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, songwriter), Shannon Leto (drums, percussion) and Tomo Miličević (lead guitar, keyboards). Following the departure of Matt Wachter (now of Angels & Airwaves) in 2007, Tim Kelleher became the bassist for the group, performing live only with both Jared and Miličević recording bass for studio recordings, while Braxton Olita (keyboards) was added to the touring lineup in 2009. Previously, the group also featured guitarists Solon Bixler (now of Great Northern) and Kevin Drake. As the guys of 30 Seconds to Mars entered the stage the audience went wild. The sound was a little overdriven so it all came to be more noise than clear songs. But nobody seemed to care. After asking one fan if he liked the sound, he only answered “Well, it is a live concert.” I found it sad that the sound was like that, because the music could have been so much better with a good sound. But it might have been the venue as well. Anyway, the band got the audience to do everything they asked for, talked a lot with their fans and thanked them all the time for being so loyal. Many of the fans wore 30 Seconds to Mars merchandise, had the logo drawn onto their faces and other places. The screaming was intense. Towards the end of the show Jared was coming to a stage in the back of the venue to play a little acoustic set which was awesome. The sound was brilliant and you could hear his awesome voice. Jared played several songs on acoustic guitar drawn together to a medley. He also made an acoustic rock version out of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance”. It took most fans quite a while to recognize it. As Jared came back to the main stage he had a balloon is his hands which he called Wilson and let the audience vote whether to kill it or not. We voted for him to kill it so Jared did. 30 Seconds to Mars played songs off all albums including all their hits. There was a lot of smoke on stage and the band never stood still for even a second. After about 2 hours the show was over. Very sad for all fans, but Jared announced that they will be back to Oberhausen in December. So stay tuned.

Links:
30 Secons To Mars Official
Carpark North Official